Plot
Bitter Medicine begins when Ben Martini graduates from high school, he is acting strange and abrasive to his family, and accoring to Clem, “Things quickly went sideways from there. He started picking arguments, particularly with Liv.” (p. 21) Ben confides in Clem that he is not feeling well. He later begins to confess that he encountered someone from another world. Clem tries to convince him to see help but he refuses. The martini family would begin discussing how to help Ben privately. After a physical confrontation with the family, their mother would call the cops to take him away. Ben would get diagnosed with schizophrenia while in care and would be prescribed drugs to combat the effects. After several confrontations between Clem and Ben, Clem decides to take a trip to Europe, during which he would find out Ben has committed suicide from a phone call with his mom. The family would become isolated from others and each other after this. Later in life, Olivier would begin to show similar symptoms to Ben. He would call Clem’s girlfriend and talk about seeing abductions. Clem would invite Liv to visit him in Montreal, determined to keep him from turning out like Ben did. Liv did not have the same reaction as Ben did, instead of getting combative he would agree to seek help after a suicide attempt and Clem would drive him to a psychiatric ward. Liv would get diagnosed with schizophrenia like his brother, along with depression. He would return to his family after several months in care. He would be sent back to psychiatric care after a hallucinatory episode during a camping trip with their brother Nic and asked to meet with a nurse regularly, however his care would be halted by a nurses strike.Clem and Liv would begin sending letters to each other back and forth for the next year. Clem would miss his mail while out of town and would receive a phone call from Clem asking about where his letter was, this would turn into a daily phone call between the two of them. Olivier would find a job as a night guard. This would consume most of his days and would only contribute to his paranoia and depression and he eventual quit at the request of his nurse.Now unemployed again, he would spend a lot of his time on walks with his father, where they would bond. Their father would soon die of a stroke and Liv would relapse. Liv would struggle to find employment again after this, and those that would hire him would pay poorly and shame him. Homelessness became a very real possibility to Liv and this would lead to greater paranoia. Liv began to struggle with the side-effects of his medication, including involuntary muscle movements and restlessness. It got bad enough for doctors to consider other treatments for him. None of the medications were able to stop his body from deteriorating though. Liv would black out due to a diabetic attack, that was caused by a new medication he was prescribed. He was forced to switch medications again. His diabetes only complicated his medical needs more. He would soon need to be sent to emergency by his psychiatrist. He would be asked to wait for three nights for a room and let to wander around on his own before being cared for. Because of how many medications hes cycled through already, doctors could only suggest he try Clozapine, a potentially fatal drug. Also, because of his diabetes, he would need to lose 30 pounds before taking it. After strict dieting and exercise for six months, he was accepted as an applicant despite still being 5 pounds over the limit. After an extended stay in the hospital, Liv would not show any signs of white blood cell loss and would be discharged and allowed to continue the medication. He would stay on this medication until the present, Clem believes it has had a major positive impact on his life. - Zachary Fisch